The best pending battle at Vikings’ training camp this summer will likely be between running backs Latavius Murray and Dalvin Cook.
Murray, recovering from offseason ankle surgery, has been a regular guest on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football, and on Tuesday he talked about his upcoming position battle with Cook.
“Here I am, already behind in a sense. Going into a new offense, new situation… but I’m injured,” Murray said. “Coming off an injury and Dalvin’s already been through the OTA’s, he’s already been through the offseason. So he has that on me. But also looking at it as, hey, I’m the vet, I have time in this league, I’ve done some good things in this league. I have a lot to bring to the table.”
Murray was supposed to be the easy replacement for Adrian Peterson, but things changed when Cook fell out of the first round into the Vikings’ lap midway through the second round of the NFL Draft.
Here is @LataviusM on the position battle at running back for the Minnesota Vikings #GMFB pic.twitter.com/KC4CM3Pmbd
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) June 27, 2017
Murray said he wasn’t surprised the Vikings took a guy with so much potential – and he’ll do everything he can to help make Cook a better player – but he doesn’t plan on letting Cook outplay him for the RB1 job.
“This is my time. This is my new opportunity and this is what I want,” Murray explained. “When it comes game one, I need to be back there in that I (formation) lining up.”
Another guy in the mix is Jerick McKinnon, who said the Vikings could have three-headed monster at running back.
“A rookie first year, we’ve already seen flashes of how good he can be,” McKinnon said in June, via CBS. “Latavius, he went to the Pro Bowl. He’s already made a name for himself, so I’m excited to work with both those guys and see how my game stacks up against theirs.”
Murray also took part in a hilarious re-enactment of him getting stopped by the paparazzi in New York.
Excellent job by @LataviusM handling the #GMFB Paparazzi pic.twitter.com/g9VzHV01cx
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) June 27, 2017
